Be Alert for Jesus in Disguise . . . 13th Sunday Ordinary Time
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13th Sunday Ordinary Time - July 2nd, 2023 (Click Here for Readings)
The Shunamite woman in today’s first reading may have been of worldly wealth and influence, but she also clearly saw the holiness in Elisha. With great enthusiasm, she encouraged her husband to help in generously serving and accommodating him. She didn’t judge or marginalize Elisha in any way and in turn, was miraculously rewarded with the birth of their child.
Even the smallest gesture of kindness can open a floodgate of rewards, as Jesus’ example of giving a cup of cold water to one of the little ones shows in today’s Gospel. For us to see Jesus in others the way the Shunamite woman saw God in Elisha is an insight we gain by the graces of our baptism that St. Paul stressed to the Romans.
Our baptism is the spring from which our newness of life in Christ begins, and it’s up to us to keep it pure against the relentless efforts of sin to contaminate it. We must be constantly shutting off the spigot of sin by building gracious habits, one upon another, and giving our whole selves in love and service to others.
When we wax the seal of our baptism, we will master sin and become slaves to righteousness. We will lay the axe to the root causes and occasions of our sins and nail our old sinful desires to the cross. Though we may never live without sin, we do not have to live in it.
What a glorious privilege to be crucified with Christ until all that remains in our flesh and blood is his life! When we no longer live in ourselves and allow Christ to live and radiate in us, we can then be the Christ for others to see and replicate.
When we welcome and love everyone from those we marginalize, to the little ones in need of a cup of cold water, or the righteous men of ordinary means as Jesus notes, we will surely not lose our reward.
Private Love or Universal Love
When Jesus tells us to place our love for him ahead of our family, he didn’t mean to discard them, but simply that our human relationships must be subordinate to our love for him. To give up time with our family to minister to a stranger in need displays our loyalty to Jesus first. As he said in Matthew 25:40, “Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.” And the more of this love we show to strangers, or “Jesus in disguise,” the deeper our love will grow for our own family.
When our love becomes universal, without privacy and with Jesus as its foundation, we’ll become a more appealing and valuable role model to everyone, and our former self-centered attitudes will dissipate into the realm of God’s wisdom.
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